Eco-Terrorists May Have Spiked Logs To Cripple Lumber Mills

By Chris White

A lumber mill in Oregon is on the look out after learning environmentalists and conservationists may have jammed metal spikes in its logs in an effort to slow down or stop logging in the state.

A green group calling itself SAP claimed on environmental website “Earth First! Newswire” that it used the eco-terrorist tactic — which was popular in the 1990s as a way to seriously injure loggers — at the Swanson Brothers mill June 11 near Eugene, Ore.

Larry Konnie, the president of the mill, said his crew was operating as usual for two days prior to learning about SAP’s claim. “It makes me think they wanted to hurt somebody,” Konnie added.

No spikes have been found yet, according to Konnie.

The mill has been on “red alert,” Konnie said. Millworkers have been checking logs at the mill with metal detectors. Despite weeding through a large portion of the logs, the mill has yet to go through all the logs.

Sifting through all the logs is unlikely, as the mill receives between 800 and 900 truckloads of logs with stacks of lumber measuring more than 50 feet. It’s too many logs to count, Konnie said.

SAP said it spiked logs at Swanson Brothers “because it specializes in processing the oldest and largest trees. This action was taken to stop production and is not intended to harm any worker at the mill.”

Worse still, nobody appears to know anything about SAP.

Earth First! Newswire editor, Grayson Flory, said those who run the website do not know who is involved with SAP.

Environmental activist group Cascadia Forest Defenders, a group known for protesting lumberyards in and near Eugene, sent a brief email stating the group “does not encourage, condone or commit acts of senseless sabotage.”

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